Jan 11, 2012

Eye^Game^Candy: Little Computer People

It might have inspired The Sims and that happily forgotten Tamagotchi craze, but David Crane's Little Computer People was far from a commercial success back in 1985. Surely the atrocious cover art couldn't have helped much... The game itself though remains fresh, unique, innovative, pretty brilliant and beautiful in a way only those chunky Commodore 64 games can be. And did you know that its complete title is Little Computer People Discovery Kit and that it was also known as House-on-a-Disk? Oh, I see...

18 comments:

Wow, that is some seriously ugly cover art! I remember this game coming out but I don't think I ever played it (was it ported to the dear old Speccy?) - I've never actually seen the point of The Sims either, but maybe this one would be more enjoyable.

I'm not sure but I think the "story" behind this title was that every home computer had a "little computer person" inside it and that the programme would bring them out. It was a rather twee set-up and I think that went against it.

I played The Sims once, really enjoyed it up to a point. That point was when the character I had named after my wife burned to death in a kitchen fire whilst cooking dinner. That left a sour taste that I could never recover from. Never touched a sims game since. I prefer the cold distance of Sim City - no chance of getting emotionally connected to one of those little black blocks as it trundles along my poorly funded roads.

@ Matty: You are indeed correct my friend. 't was a 128k only release, though I must admit I thought it was pretty decent. And yes, the story was pretty silly, but could have worked if phrased in a better way.

@ Elderly: Three cheers for memory pills then! Oh and do try to tempt them little people to show themselves. Heard retro pr0n might work...

@ Marc: I remember being very impressed by The Sims during my scientifically naive years. I did seriously believe that such a game, when taken to its extreme, could make a decent research tool. Apparently I was wrong; just like Sim City's theoretical basis :) Also please do excuse the Tamagotchi hostility... I'll spank myself.

I remember trying to kill mine. Left my C64 on for 4 days without feeding him (this took commitment since I obviously couldn't play anything else). He just lay in bed, green, refusing to get up to play games etc.

i remember Little Computer People back as i was young, played it on my C64 and loved it, especially the background story that he lives in your computer..ever wondered how many different characters existed..since one was told every LCP is unique..as for the Art Cover..i liked it..like many other Games around that Time they spend a lot of work to give you something you can hold in your hands..reminds me of the Infocom Text Adventures as well..where Gimmicks were added inside the package and so on..today you just get a box with a DVD in and if you want to have Extras its called "Collectors Edition" which is sold than overpricey in most cases..